Southcote Lodge.
165. _Meaning of "Stickle" and "Dray."_--In Wm. Browne's _Pastoral_,
"The Squirrel Hunt," we read of--
"Patient anglers, standing all the day
Near to some shallow _stickle_, or deep bay."
The word _stickle_ appears to me to be used here for a pool. Is it ever
so used now, or has that meaning become obsolete? I do not find it in
Richardson's _Dictionary_.
In the Lake District, in the Langdales, is Harrison's Stickle or Stickle
Tarn, which I think confirms my view of the meaning.
* * * * *
"Whilst he from tree to tree, from spray to spray,
Gets to the wood, and hides him in his _dray_."
Cowper uses the word _dray_ with reference to the same animal:
"Chined like a squirrel to his _dray_."
"A Fable," Southey's _Edit._ viii. 312.
What is the correct meaning of this word? Richardson, from Barrett,
says, "a _dray_ or _sledde_, which goeth without wheels." And adds,
"also applied to a carriage with low, heavy wheels, dragged heavily
along, as a brewer's _dray_."
He then quotes the passage from Cowper, containing the above line.